Chance
by Sol Hiryu
Summary: Suddenly wanting companionship during the invasion of Daein, Boyd draws himself close to Ike, finding reassurance in his company. However, when one moment serves to make them closer, they both have to figure out their relationship. Boyd/Ike/Boyd, FE9/10.


"You know, there's something different about him lately."

Oscar looked up from repacking his satchel, curious. "Who are you talking about, Boyd?" he queried, watching his younger brother pace around impatiently.

Boyd rolled his eyes. "You know who I'm talking about!" he exclaimed, sighing in exasperation as Oscar didn't follow his train of thought. "Ike. He's different. He's..."

"Our commander," Oscar finished for him as he went back to his supplies. "Of course he's going to be different, Boyd. He has a lot more to worry about now, especially with the size of the army he's leading." He paused there, replacing one of his vulenaries with an elixir before he continued, "I wouldn't be surprised if he was dealing with a lot more problems that we don't know about."

"That's-"

"The truth," the older brother said, turning away from him. "We might be his friends...his family, but even then we're not the ones he confides in. We're the ones that follow his orders, no matter what they might be."

For a faint moment, Boyd thought he heard a trace of bitterness in Oscar's tone before it was swiftly covered up. Frowning, the warrior gathered his thoughts once more to try and steer the conversation back on track. "But haven't you noticed him lately?" he asked, watching as Oscar seemed to be throwing whatever was near him into his satchel, even if it wouldn't fit. "He just seems..." Suddenly, he found he couldn't seem to say the next few words, no matter how hard he tried.

_Tired. Sad...**Lonely**._

Oscar lightly snorted, snapping his bag shut. "While it's interesting to know that you've been stalking Commander Ike for the last few days, to be honest, I'm getting annoyed with how often you're bringing it up, Boyd." The younger brother looked momentarily stunned as the paladin stood up, bag in hand. "Ike will be fine without you fretting over him like his nursemaid. The last few days have worn on us all, and you'd be wise to look more after yourself rather than our friend."

Boyd sputtered. "Nursemaid?" he nearly shouted in indignation.

Oscar shrugged, the hint of a smile on his face. "With how much you seem to worry over him, it's certainly apt," he chuckled before he strode towards the flap of the tent. "Anyway, we'll be breaking camp within two marks, so get your stuff ready while I go check on Rolf. I'll see you later." Before Boyd could even say another word, his older brother was gone.

Sighing, he leaned back into his seat and massaged his temples. "Pah, how ridiculous. He certainly has some fantasies, that one," he snorted to himself. "Stalking? Me? How could I ever do that in a million years? I'm way too clumsy for that!"

_Although,_ a darker part of his mind supplied, _you seem quite adamant on knowing where Ike is most of the time, and making sure to "check up on him". Nursemaid indeed._

Growling to himself, Boyd distractedly began to collect his things in his own satchel, pondering over what had happened over the past few weeks. They had _finally_ gotten some sort of support from a real country, Begnion at that, and now they were ready to make their march on Daein. After months of hard-fought victories and _running_ from their enemy, they were finally going to fight back.

At first, he had been excited. Hell, everybody in their company had been; everything they had suffered through together finally paid off. They actually had a small celebratory feast before they set off, and most of them had a good time. Even Princess Elincia, who bore witness to everything, seemed more at ease than she had been in a long time.

The only one who hadn't looked really happy was Ike himself...and Soren too, but he _never_ looked happy, Boyd reasoned.

It had caught his eye after helping himself to a third helping of food, and he couldn't help but note how uneasy their commander looked. He had been named a noble by Elincia only hours earlier, and no matter how much he tried to hide it, everyone could see that Ike felt uncomfortable in his new position. Most of them figured that it would take a few days to sink in, and then everything would be back on track. Indeed, when they started their march the next day, Ike had regained his composure and led them across the border.

Still, something wouldn't stop nagging at him. He brushed off the feeling like it was nothing to worry about. They were finally about to turn the tides of the war, and what they had to concentrate most was the battles ahead.

And that they did. Shinon had joined up with them again, much to his displeasure. The ravens of Kilvas finally got off their backs, and they finally seemed to be making headway towards Nevassa. Things were going so well for them.

Until the floodgates of Talrega had literally and figuratively drowned their enthusiasm.

They had won that battle, of course-how could they not, when the endless river of water blocked their path? But the damage had already been done. The very sight of Talrega's people, dislocated and left with absolutely nothing, had finally made the message sink into them.

_This was war._

War, Boyd mused later on, was unforgiving, and an atrocity such as what happened at Talrega was normal in the course of warfare. All the same, with so many people that gathered up along the road-crying, moaning, _dying_-even Soren couldn't walk on impassively. To the rest of them, it was completely horrifying.

And it didn't stop there. As they advanced, Daein seemed to be pulling out all the stops in delaying their advance. As if Talrega wasn't enough, they burned the crops and homes of the next region they went to, leaving the earth barren and the cries of those that lived heartbreaking. In the region they advanced to after that, the waters had been poisoned. Boyd could never forget the dead bodies they hurried past that day, twisted expressions of agony etched on their faces.

More than once did Elincia break into tears, and Boyd couldn't really blame her. Everyone, including himself, realized the people were suffering because they were invading Daein, and it made him sick to his stomach to think that he might as well have killed them with his own axe. Of course, he then realized that it was Daein's fault, not theirs, that they had so callously killed their own people for a slight advantage, so the Crimean army really couldn't be blamed. That really didn't make him feel any better, though.

As they marched, he couldn't help but wonder how Ike felt. His comrade, his _friend_, had been looking a lot graver as of late. There were no smiles or laughter that came from him, only a bleary stare and a frown that seemed to be permanent on his face. He thought that it had been a result as of what happened in Talrega, but then he remembered that Ike not only looked that way after the battle, he looked like that the night before, after looting the gold from that one compound.

After that, it seemed that all Ike could ever do was frown. With how their battles were going, as well as the aftermath, there was little reason to feel happy in the army. Boyd could certainly say that a lot of them felt slightly bitter about how things had turned out. They knew it was from no fault of Ike's that brought about the tragedies that unfolded, yet there was very little to take their anger out on. He was slightly surprised to see that Oscar was as angry as he was at the current moment, and he had no doubt that a lot of the mercenaries shared his sentiment.

That was when he had his brilliant idea. _I should go find Ike and talk to him,_ he reasoned to himself. _He'll know what to say to make us feel better._

In retrospect, his thinking had been horribly naive, but at the time he thought it was a great idea. So, one day while they were camped along the main road, he decided to venture around and look for his friend. It usually wasn't too hard to find him, considering that the commander always had to make his rounds around the camp and would inevitably be seen in one place or another.

Only, it seemed, that whenever he _did_ find Ike, he was always busy with something that took all of his attention. The first time he found him was by the supply tent, talking with several soldiers about the state of the items they held and how many they had to go around. Soren was right there next to him, doing most of the talking; Ike merely stood there and gave the commands on what to do. Boyd frowned as he watched from a distance away; Ike certainly didn't seem happy, but who could blame him? The nagging feeling from before had returned in full force, but the green-haired man had fought it down as he walked away.

The next time was when Ike had been wandering around the camp by himself. Boyd had spotted him first and had been just about to call out to him when several soldiers had stepped in, each one of them asking different questions. Stuff about formations, chain of command, and enemy strength had been overheard by him, and what surprised Boyd was that Ike had answered each of them honestly, like the way he had done back before the whole crazy mess began. But as he was speaking, there was a brief yet noticeable hesitance in his voice, one that occurred after a question about his comrades came up. All of a sudden, Boyd felt himself too embarrassed to try and make his way into the conversation and retreated back behind the tents.

For the entire day, Boyd had staked out what Ike had been doing (no, it was _not_ stalking, he told himself), and each time he felt more and more sorry for his friend. It had become more obvious to him that the position had been shunted onto Ike and he was quite obviously chafing in it now. Even the commander's words got shorter and more terse as the day went on, and it looked like he was fighting himself to make it seem like he wasn't looking as worn as he felt.

Every day thereafter, whenever they had pitched camp, Boyd would try and make some time to observe Ike and see if he ever felt better. To his disappointment, he always seemed to look even worse than the previous time, and he had finally broken down and told Oscar about everything. His older brother had humored him at first, but it seemed he had his own problems to deal with and didn't take well to Boyd's own worries about their commander.

Not like it mattered, with how _bitter_ everyone had been feeling in the past few days.

Pausing as he packed his spare clothes into his bag, Boyd sighed. "Maybe I should go make him feel better," he murmured to himself. Ike would like another of his friends to talk to, wouldn't he? It wasn't like Soren or Titania were enough, right? But he wasn't allowed inside the command tent, or near Ike's quarters, so how would he do it? Sighing in frustration, the warrior bit his lip as he continued to pack. "Gah! I'll just find time for it later. I'll show him exactly why he shouldn't try and make me worry like he has been..."

Grumbling to himself, Boyd never noticed his slip of the tongue, nor did he question his sudden desire just to _talk_ with Ike.

* * *

Of course, it would so happen that he got his chance in the least optimal of conditions. That being in the middle of a moderate and _cold_ snowstorm as they pressed on towards the capital. It just so happened that the unit he was assigned to was to march with Ike's own unit that day, and he had only found out at the last minute when Ike had walked right by him, giving him a brief wave before resuming the march.

He didn't really think much of it at first, but he found himself growing...well, nervous. Which was stupid because he had talked to Ike plenty of times before! About training, about battles, about anything he could name off the top of his head, so it wasn't as if-

Boyd stopped his train of thought there, frowning. No, things had changed too drastically to be like before, when they were still children, or even as fellow mercenaries cleaning up bandits. Everything had changed, and Ike seemed almost...untouchable, somehow.

"Boyd?"

Surprised, Boyd's head shot up as he turned towards the voice. He knew who that was. "Yeah, Ike?" he quickly asked before wincing. Oscar would have hit him had he heard him be so informal. "No, wait, I should call you Commander now, shouldn't I?"

Ike seemed more displeased by that than anything. "You don't have to. We're comrades," he said lowly as they continued the march, the soldiers marching slowly and steadily around them. "We're family."

There was that word again, and Boyd felt a bit of relief hearing that. _It wasn't like Ike forgot all of us or anything,_ he reminded himself. "I know," he grinned, trying to lighten the situation up. "Just don't want Oscar chewing my ear off again."

Ike snorted, and for the first time in a while, Boyd thought he could see a small smirk on the blue-haired man's features. "It wouldn't surprise me if he did. You're the one that has to be reminded of things to do everyday, aren't you?"

"I am not!" he protested, and he felt the relief just come on like a wave. This was _Ike_, his friend. Nothing had changed other than their circumstances, and just that slight banter with him reassured him. "I am _so_ not lazy."

The commander snorted again before turning his head back, seemingly hearing something. "I'm being called away again," he sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head. Through the flurry of snow, Boyd could make out a slight grimace on his features as Ike turned around. "I'll see you later, Boyd."

"Ike, wait!" Boyd nearly hissed before he could stop himself, making the commander pause and look back at him. "I...well..." _Just say it already, Boyd!_ he thought furiously before clearing his throat. "If...if you want to talk, then I'd be more than happy to listen to you!"

Boyd really couldn't see Ike's face that well through the storm, but he could imagine the look of surprise on Ike's face. "Boyd...I'll keep that in mind. Thank you," he said sincerely before making his way back to the center of the formation, marching his way past his fellow soldiers.

The warrior stared after Ike for a short while before smiling to himself. "Things aren't as different as I thought," he sighed in relief, and his heart was gladdened by it. Perhaps things would be better now.

It would only take the next day for it to be thrown all into confusion as both their lives changed.

* * *

**A/N:** An experimental story with an experimental couple. It's something I've just been thinking about lately and I had to write about it...not like that's any surprise, huh?

I know exactly how this is going to plot out, though. I'm just pacing myself in writing it this time. Let me know what you think!


End file.
